Oleksandr Usyk's legend grows with historic IBF title win

Oleksandr Usyk 's case as one of the greatest boxers of all-time grew on Saturday with a fifth-round knockout over Daniel Dubois to reclaim the IBF title and become an undisputed champion for an unprecedented third time.

Oleksandr Usyk knocks out Daniel Dubois in round five to become a three-time undisputed world champion pic.twitter.com/sP3adh2lho Usyk, who held the WBA, WBO and WBC heavyweight belts before Saturday's bout, relinquished his IBF title in June 2024, a little more than a month after he became the first boxer since Lennox Lewis (1999) to become the undisputed heavyweight champion with a split decision victory over Tyson Fury.

With his win over Dubois, who had taken the IBF belt after it was relinquished, Usyk became the first male boxer of the four-belt era (since 2007) to be named undisputed champion three times.

Usyk was also the undisputed cruiserweight champ from 2018-19.

Oleksandr Usyk just became an undisputed champion for the THIRD time No male boxer in the four-belt era has achieved undisputed champ status three separate times pic.twitter.com/NpdT50AHc8 Usyk (24-0, 15 KOs) is the division's most dominant player in a generation.

Making his reign even more impressive is as Ring Magazine noted on social media that Usyk has vanquished several of his top opponents on their home soil, including Dubois on Saturday at Wembley Stadium in London.

Oleksandr Usyk is boxing's ultimate road warrior as he has beaten: Krzysztof Glowacki in Poland Michael Hunter in America Marco Huck in Germany Mairis Briedis in Latvia Murat Gassiev in Russia Tony Bellew in the UK Derek Chisora in the UK Anthony...

pic.twitter.com/Qu2M32Iw05 Usyk's numbers speak for themselves.

And at 38, he's showing no signs of slowing down.

He dominated the much younger Dubois, 27, in his fifth-round knockout.

Per Compubox data , Usyk landed 57 of 153 punches thrown (37.3 percent), including 12 of 17 (70.6 percent) in Round 5, while Dubois finished landing 35-of-179 punches (19.6 percent).

During the fourth and fifth rounds, Usyk landed 18 out of 34 power punches (52.9 percent) compared to 7-of-23 (30.4 percent) from Dubois.

Already the greatest heavyweight boxer this century, Usyk inches up the all-time leaderboard each time he enters a ring.

With his historic Saturday win, Usyk's legend continues to grow.

Eric Smithling is a writer based in New Orleans, LA, whose byline also appears on Athlon Sports.

He has been with Yardbarker since September 2022, primarily covering the NFL and college football, but also the NBA, WNBA, mens and womens college basketball, NHL, tennis and golf.

He holds a film studies degree from the University of New Orleans.

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